SES Broadcasts 2018 Winter Olympics in 4K HDR

Olympics ratings down but still lead other prime time shows, NBC execs say

NBC was in front in prime time, thanks to the Winter Olympics, and first in the morning, thanks to "Today".

Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, has selected SES to provide 4K High Dynamic Range (HDR) satellite distribution for its production of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, which are now taking place in PyeongChang, South Korea. As part of the implementation, SES has provided preconfigured satellite receivers to the affiliates that will be receiving the HDR feed.

NBC and NBCSN's coverage topped the opening Saturday of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio (23.5 million).

Friday's opening ceremony was the most-watched prime-time program between February 5 and Sunday, averaging 27.837 million viewers, 12.2 percent less than the 31.69 million average in 2014. ABC is at 5.91 million and Fox is at 5.89 million.

The Thursday coverage was fourth for the week, averaging 15.995 million viewers, 20.1 percent less than 20.02 million average in 2014.

"This is an achievement that reflects NBC's strength as a true broadcaster, delivering mega-events like 'Sunday Night Football, ' the Super Bowl and Olympics, along with the some of the highest-rated scripted and unscripted programming on television, such as 'This Is Us, ' 'Will & Grace, ' 'The Voice, ' 'America's Got Talent, ' and the list goes on and on".

NBC logged 9.57 million viewers on average, as opposed to CBS' 9.39 million on average, based on the most up-to-date Nielsen data available, reports The Hollywood Reporter. "GMA" drew 1.419 million. Season two of This Is Us is up 23% in total viewers over last season, according to the network. ESPN was third, averaging 1.369 million viewers, 3,000 more than fourth-place HGTV. "CBS This Morning" was the choice of 1 million. That season, the network had Friends averaging an astonishing 24.5 million viewers a week.

The most-watched Spanish-language prime-time program was the Tuesday episode of the Univision telenovela "El Rico y Lazaro", 67th among broadcast programs, averaging 1.949 million viewers.

When Live+3-Day viewing was figured, Colbert averaged 3.85 million viewers and overtook Fallon, who had 3.4 million. The network averaged a 2.47 rating through February 11, beating Fox by 39 percent.

When sports-related programming is excluded, NBC trails CBS by 1.9 million viewers.